Alquemie Group – the owner of General Pants – has sold off its Lego Certified Stores portfolio to Kennedy Consolidated, a new investment platform launched by the luxury retail businessman James Kennedy.
According to Alquemie, the sale follows an unsolicited approach to acquire its Lego portfolio.
This comes several years after Alquemie took on the Lego license for Australia and New Zealand, scaling the local channel mix to just over 20 stores nationwide.
This latest sell-off from Alquemie follows a few years of downsizing by the company, which was founded by retailer Richard Facioni. This includes selling SurfStitch and Ginger & Smart in 2025, with the former slipping into voluntary administration after it was sold, and a slight shrinking of its General Pants store portfolio over the last few years.
The company also wound up its National Geographic Wear portfolio around the same time last year.
Over the weekend, Australian Financial Review reported that the recent deal between Kennedy and Alquemie was valued at around $50 million, with Lego Stores’ yearly revenue in Australia believed to be around $150 million.
This also comes as Kennedy offloaded its Patek Philippe boutique in Chadstone to overseas timepiece company Cortina Watch earlier this year, made with a cash consideration of $24.5 million.
A Kennedy spokesperson then told Ragtrader that that transaction allows the luxury retailer to refine its portfolio, reallocate capital and focus on long-term priorities that support its next phase of growth.
The move also comes over six months after Kennedy sold its Rolex license to The Hour Glass, another Singaporean retail business. It is believed these transactions will help realise value from mature assets and bolster the balance sheet, possibly to help for future investments. In October last year, the retailer registered a new entity, according to ASIC, titled Kennedy Consolidated Asset Management Pty Ltd.
Kennedy operates a diversified luxury watch and jewellery platform across Australia, spanning mono-brand and multi-brand retail assets. It sells through a dedicated website and through six retail locations.